This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for stacking bales, and more particularly to stacking bales of fibre material, such as cellulose pulp.
A method often applied for the lifting of bales in known types of stackers such as so-called swing stackers is to clamp the bale on opposite sides by means of clamping plates. These devices involve the drawback that the unevenness, which at the pressing of the bales can arise in the bale sides, causes the bale to assume an inclined position, with the risk of tilting of the bale stack. These devices moreover, cannot be used for "wet pulp" with a dry content of 50 percent, because the bale is deformed by the lateral pressure. These devices are not suitable, either, for use with so-called large bales, comprising for example four stacks of sheet pulp which are lifted in unbound state for being transported to a unit load binding machine.
In order to overcome these drawbacks, the use of fork trucks has been proposed, but with conventional arrangements it has not been possible, subsequent to the stacking of the bales, to directly continue the transport in the previous direction of transport. The entire bale stacking apparatus, for example, has to be moved to a position where the bale stack could be delivered for further transport.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to render it possible to maintain the direction of transport, so that the bale stacker can be mounted in a stationary position in a transport path, thereby rendering the apparatus simpler and more reliable in operation.